Allocating physical nodes for processes in an execution plan

ABSTRACT

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for allocating physical nodes for processes in an execution plan. An execution plan is generated indicating a plurality of processes. A resource requirement is generated indicating requested physical nodes and an assignment of the processes to execute on the requested physical nodes. A determination is made from the resource requirement of a resource allocation of physical nodes for the requested physical nodes and the processes. The execution plan is updated to generate an updated execution plan indicating the physical nodes on which the processes will execute according to the received resource allocation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, andmethod for allocating physical nodes for processes in an execution plan.

2. Description of the Related Art

To run an application job involving multiple processes that execute inparallel, such as an Extract Load and Transform (“ETL”) job, a jobexecutor reads a description of the configuration file template todetermine the number of nodes on which processes will run. The jobexecutor requests an allocation of nodes to run the job from a resourcemanagement tool, which then sends the job executor the node names thatmay be selected for the job. A user may then prepare a configurationfile with actual node names selected from those provided by the resourcemanagement tool. The configuration file may allocate to different nodesa physical node, also known as a “fastname”, and a pool to which thenode is assigned. The configuration file thus specifies actual physicalresources to allocate in advance to the job before the execution plan isgenerated.

Using the configuration file, an execution plan may then be generatedfrom the job description indicating the parts or partitions of theprocesses of the job to run on the selected nodes identified in theconfiguration file. The execution plan is then run to execute theprocesses on the selected node.

With ETL jobs, the processing may be partitioned at the nodes, where aconductor drives the entire job. Under the conductor there are sectionleaders, one section leader for each node, and there are multipleplayers for each section leader, or independent processes, that run onthe same node as the section leader. Thus, the execution plan willrequire that players for the section leader are all assigned to the samenode, which will comprise the physical node specified in theconfiguration file.

SUMMARY

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method forallocating physical nodes for processes in an execution plan. Anexecution plan is generated indicating a plurality of processes. Aresource requirement is generated indicating requested physical nodesand an assignment of the processes to execute on the requested physicalnodes. A determination is made from the resource requirement of aresource allocation of physical nodes for the requested physical nodesand the processes. The execution plan is updated to generate an updatedexecution plan indicating the physical nodes on which the processes willexecute according to the received resource allocation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a computational environment,including a job execution environment and resource managementenvironment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a resource requirement instance.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a resource allocation instance.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an embodiment of a configuration file.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an embodiment of an allocation ofsection leaders and players to physical nodes.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of operations to generate and send aresource requirement with a request to allocate physical nodes forrequested section leader nodes.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of operations to allocate physicalnodes to processes identified in the resource requirement.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of operations to update an executionplan with the allocated physical nodes.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of computer systems in the computingenvironment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With the prior art implementation, resources and nodes are selectedbefore the execution plan is prepared, and then included in theexecution plan. Thus, when the execution plan is initiated with thepreviously selected nodes, the selected nodes at the time the executionplan is run may not have sufficient resources to execute the processesspecified in the execution plan. If a node on which the processes of theexecution plan is too busy, then the process execution may be delayed,which may result in job failure or longer completion time. With theprior art implementations, reserving a node for a single application maywaste node resources available on a node and running multipleapplications on one node may lead to contention if the node does nothave sufficient capacity and resources at the time of execution.

Described embodiments address the prior art problems of pre-allocatingnodes in advance of preparing the execution plan. Described embodimentsallow running of parallel processes of a job on a dynamically allocatedset of nodes by preparing the execution plan with dummy node names orplaceholders and then replacing the dummy node names with the actualnode names. In this way, the physical nodes are allocated after theexecution plan is generated. Further, with described embodiments, whenall of the related processes cannot be accommodated on the same nodemachine, resources on different nodes may be requisitioned for some ofthe processes so the processes may run on multiple nodes to avoidfailure or delays due to overloading too many processes on one node atexecution time.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a computational environment 100having a job execution environment 102 and a resource managementenvironment 104. The job execution environment 102 includes a jobexecutor 106 that processes a job 108, such as an application orprogram, e.g., an Extract Transform and Load (“ETL”) program, todetermine the processes and flow of the job 108. The job executor 106may process a configuration file template 110 specifying requestedsection leader nodes to be assigned to the processes of the job 108. Thejob executor 106 may process a job description of the job 108 togenerate an execution plan 112 indicating processes to execute on therequested section leader nodes designated in the configuration filetemplate 110.

In one embodiment, the execution plan 112 may specify various processesthat may execute in parallel to perform different operations of the job108, including section leaders and players. A section leader creates andmanages player processors which perform the actual job 108 execution.The section leaders also manage communication among the player processesand the conductor process. The players comprise one or more logicalgroups of processes used to execute the data flow logic. All players arecreated and may execute on a same physical node as the section leader. Aconductor is a main process that starts the job 108, determines resourcerequirements, assigns players to nodes, creates the section leaderprocesses, and acts as a single coordinator for status and errormessages.

The job executor 106 includes a resource negotiator 107 to requestactual physical nodes 120 with sufficient resources on which to executethe determined processes in the execution plan 112, e.g., sectionleaders and players, from a resource manager 114, where in the executionplan 112, the processes are designated to operate on requested sectionleader nodes for which there is not yet an allocated physical node 120.In order to request physical nodes that meet the job resourcerequirement from the resource manager 114, the job executor 106 mayconstruct a resource requirement 200 having information on the processes(e.g., section leaders and players) required by the job 108, which isprocessed by a resource negotiator 107 to determine how to allocatephysical nodes to the processes in the execution plan 112. Oncedetermining an allocation, the resource negotiator 107 would request thespecific physical node allocation 120 from the resource manager 114.

The resource management environment 104 includes the resource manager114 and resource availability information 116 having information on aremaining or current availability of resources in the physical nodes120. The resource manager 114 provides the resource negotiator 107resource availability information 116, which the resource negotiator 17uses to determine the physical nodes having sufficient availableresources to allocate to the processes in the execution plan 112. Theresource manager 114 would then perform the allocation as requested bythe resource negotiator 107.

In response to the resource requirement 200, the resource negotiator 107determines the allocation of physical nodes 120 to processes in theexecution plan 112, requests the resource manager 114 to implement thedetermined allocation, and then generates manager a resource allocation300 having the determined allocation of physical nodes to processes toreturn to the job executor 106 to use to update the execution plan 112to reflect the actual assigned physical nodes.

The computational environment 100 in which the job execution environment102 and resource management environment 104 are implemented may compriseone or more servers. If multiple servers are used to implement theenvironment 100, then the servers may communicate over a network, suchas a Storage Area Network (SAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Intranet, theInternet, Wide Area Network (WAN), peer-to-peer network, wirelessnetwork, arbitrated loop network, etc. The environment may includestorage resources comprising one or more storage devices, or an array ofstorage devices configured as Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD), DirectAccess Storage Device (DASD), Redundant Array of Independent Disks(RAID) array, virtualization device, tape storage, flash memory, etc.The storage devices in which the storage resources are implemented maycomprise hard disk drives, solid state storage device (SSD) comprised ofsolid state electronics, such as a EEPROM (Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory), flash memory, flash disk, Random AccessMemory (RAM) drive, storage-class memory (SCM), etc., magnetic storagedisk, optical disk, tape, etc.

The physical nodes 120 may each comprise a separate computing resource,such as a physical server or computer having an operating system toindependently execute processes, such as a conductor, section leader,and players. In further embodiments, the physical nodes 120 may comprisea virtual machine providing a virtualization of an independent system.The physical nodes 120 may comprise a mixture of dedicated systems andvirtual machines.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a resource requirement instance 200,included in the resource requirement 200 generated by the job executorfor one of the processes in the execution plan 112. Each resourcerequirement instance 200, may include a process identifier (ID) of theprocess in the execution plan 112; a process type 204 indicating a typeof the process 202, such as conductor, section leader or player; asection leader 206 if the type 204 is a player to indicate the sectionleader 206 of the player; workload requirements 208 indicating anestimated consumption of computational, storage and network resourcesthe process 202 requires to operate; a hard or soft constraint 210indicating whether the requirement that the player 202 execute on thesame physical node as the section leader 206 is a preference that can berelaxed or is a hard constraint that cannot be relaxed and must beimplemented; and a requested physical node 210 that was initiallyassigned to execute the job 108. The resource requirement instance 200_(i) may also indicate the requested physical node 212 indicated in theexecution plan 112 to execute the process 202.

For the hard or soft constraint field 210, the soft constraint for theplayer indicates a preference to allocate the player to the physicalnode on which the section leader 206 for the player is allocated, withunderstanding that the requirement can be relaxed if the resourcemanager 114 cannot locate one physical node having sufficient resourcesfor all the players of the section leader. The hard constraint 210 forthe player indicates that the resource manager 114 is required to assignthe player to the physical node including the section leader for theplayer and fail the resource allocation and job execution if the hardconstraint cannot be met.

FIG. 3 illustrates an instance 300, of the resource allocation 300 thejob executor 106 or resource negotiator 107 may generate to provideinformation on an allocation of a physical node 120, including a processidentifier 302 for which the allocation is provided; a process type 304,e.g., section leader and player; and an allocated physical node 306 towhich the process 302 is assigned.

FIG. 4 is an example of a configuration file template 400, such asconfiguration file template 110, that may be created by a user tospecify request nodes on which the processes, e.g., players, willexecute. In the example of FIG. 4, the configuration file 400 providesplaceholder or dummy names for the physical node name denoted as“fastname”. Thus, in FIG. 4, the names “$HOST_NAME1” and $HOST_NAME2”are placeholder or dummy names of a physical node to be later determinedand inserted in the place of the dummy or placeholder name. Providing aplaceholder name allows the resource manager 114 to provide the actualphysical node that will be used for the requested physical node afterthe execution plan 112 is determined, instead of having a user specifythe physical node to use before the execution plan is determined. Otherelements in the configuration file include a “pool” to which the nodemay be assigned and a resource disk identified by a path name to whichdata can be read or written. The configuration file template 110 may bein a format different than shown in FIG. 4 or include additionalinformation.

FIG. 5 provides example of a illustration of the allocation, includingmultiple physical nodes 502 ₁, 502 ₂, 502 ₃ for two section leaders 503₁, 503 ₂, each having three players 504 ₁, 504 ₂, 504 ₃ and 505 ₁, 505₂, 505 ₃. In the example allocation of FIG. 5, for section leader 503 ₁one of its players 504 ₃ is allocated to a different physical node 502 ₂than the physical node 502 ₁ including the section leader 503 ₁. For thesection leader 503 ₂, the resource manager 114 was able to allocate allits players 505 ₁, 505 ₂, 505 ₃ to a single physical node 502 ₃.

With described embodiments, although the preference through the softconstraint is that all players be allocated the same physical node astheir section leader, the resource manager 114 may allocate playershaving the soft constraint to a different physical node than the sectionleader if there are not sufficient physical node resources available toassign all players to the same physical node as their section leader.Thus, with described embodiments, players having the soft constraintsetting may be assigned to one or more physical nodes that are notallocated to the section leader. Players having the hard constraintsetting may not be allocated to a physical node not including thesection leader.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the jobexecutor 106 to generate the execution plan 112 and the resourcerequirement 200 for use in requesting the resource manager 114 toallocate resources. Upon receiving (at block 600) a job description forthe job 108, such as an ETL job having multiple parallel processes, thejob executor 106 receives (at block 601) a configuration file template110 providing placeholder names for requested physical nodes, e.g.,section leader nodes, on which job processes will run. The configurationfile template 110 may be received from a user. The job executor 106 maygenerate a configuration object used to access the information suppliedby the user in the configuration file template 110. The number ofsection leader nodes on which the processes will run may be supplied bya user or determined by processing a job description of the job 108. Thejob executor 106 generates (at block 602) an execution plan 112indicating a plurality of players to perform the tasks of the job withparallelism, by determining conductors, section leaders and players forthe job 108, and assignment of section leaders and players to theplaceholder names for the requested section leader nodes. The jobexecutor 106 generates (at block 603) a resource requirement 200indicating requested section leader nodes and an assignment of theplayers to execute on the requested section leader nodes, and for eachof the players a soft constraint or a hard constraint 210 with respectto the player executing on the same physical node as a section leader.The soft or hard constraint may be determined by processing therequirements of the players. The job executor 106 generates for eachprocess, e.g., section leader and player, a resource requirementinstance 200, providing the information for the players in the fields202, 204, 206, 208, 210, 212. The information such as the workloadrequirements 208, section leader 206, and hard/soft constraint 210 maybe determined by processing the execution plan 112 and job descriptionof the job 108. After creating the resource requirement 200, the jobexecutor 106 sends (at block 604) the resource negotiator 107 theresource requirement with request to allocate resources on physicalnodes 120 for the requested section leader nodes.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the resourcenegotiator 107 determine an allocation of physical nodes 120 to theprocesses in the received resource requirement 200. Upon receiving (atblock 700) the resource requirement 200 with the request for allocationof physical nodes 120, the resource negotiator 107 performs a loop ofoperations at block 701 through 710 for each requested physical node towhich a section leader and players are assigned. Alternatively, theresource negotiator 107 may perform the loop for each section leader.For a first requested physical node, the resource negotiator 107processes the resource availability information 116 to determine (atblock 702) whether there is one physical node 120 having sufficientavailable resources to handle the execution of the section leader andplayers assigned to the requested physical node, or to process onesection leader and all its players. If so, then the resource negotiator107 requests (at block 703) the resource manager 114 to allocate onephysical node 120 having sufficient resources to the section leader andplayers assigned to the requested physical node. From block 703, controlproceeds to block 710 to consider any further requested physical nodes,or section leaders. Otherwise, if (at block 702) there was no single onenode 120 having sufficient resources for the section leader and playersassigned to the considered requested physical node, then the resourcemanager 107 determines (at block 704) whether there is one physical node120 having sufficient resources for the section leader and playershaving the hard constraint 210 assigned to the requested physical node(section leader). If (at block 705) there is no available physical node120 that has sufficient resources for the section leader and all playershaving the hard constraint 210 indicated in the resource allocationinstance 200, for the players, then the resource negotiator 107 fails(at block 705) the allocation request, and returns failure to the jobextractor 106 that initiated the resource allocation request.

If (at block 704) there is an available physical node 120 that hassufficient resources for the section leader and all players having thehard constraint 210 indicated in the resource allocation instance 200,for the player, then the resource negotiator 107 requests (at block 706)the resource manager 114 to allocate the one physical node 120 havingsufficient resources to the section leader and players having the hardconstraint 210 assigned to the requested physical node. After requestingthe allocation of the physical node 120, if (at block 707) the allocatedphysical node 120 has sufficient additional resources for any additionalplayers having the soft constraint 210, then the resource negotiator 107requests (at block 708) the resource manager 114 to allocate thephysical node 120 to the additional players having the soft constraintfor which the physical node has sufficient additional resources toaccommodate. In one embodiment, the resource negotiator 107 may try tomaximize the number of additional players having the soft constraintthat are allocated to the available resources of the physical node. Ifafter allocating the physical node 120 to the players having the hardconstraint there are no players having a soft constraint, then controlwould proceed to block 710 to consider the next requested physical nodeor section leader.

If the requested allocated physical node 120 does not have sufficientresources for additional players (from the no branch of block 707) orafter requesting allocation of additional players to the physical node(from block 708), the resource negotiator 107 allocates (at block 709)the players having the soft constraint that are not allocated to thedetermined physical node to at least one other physical node, so thatplayers are split across multiple physical nodes 120 if they have thesoft constraint.

After all processes, e.g., section leaders and players, have beenallocated to the one or more physical nodes 120, the resource negotiator107 returns (at block 711) a resource allocation plan 300 to the jobexecutor 106 indicating the allocation of the physical nodes 120 to theprocesses included in the resource requirement 200, e.g., the allocationof physical nodes 120 to section leaders and players. The job executor106 may then use the plan 300 to direct execution of the job.

In one embodiment, the resource negotiator 107 may send all the requestsfor physical nodes at blocks 703, 706, 708, and 709 in a single requestto the resource manager 114. In this way, the resource negotiator 107uses the received allocation from the resource manager 114 to create theresource allocation plan.

Certain embodiments are described with respect to allocating physicalnodes to section leaders and players. In alternative embodiments, thephysical nodes may be allocated to other types of processes, wherecertain of the processes may have a requirement to be allocated to thesame physical node as other processes, yet other processes may only havea preference or soft constraint to be grouped with other processes.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the jobextractor 106 to process the resource allocation plan 300 returned fromthe resource negotiator 107. Upon receiving (at block 800) the resourceallocation plan 300, the job executor 106 updates (at block 801) theexecution plan 112 to generate an updated execution plan 112 indicatingthe physical nodes 120 allocated by the resource negotiator 107 on whichthe players will execute according to the received resource allocationplan 300. The updated execution plan 112 may replace the dummy names orplaceholders for the requested physical node assigned to the processes(e.g., section leaders and players) within the plan 112 with the addressof the physical nodes 120 on which they will run. The job executor 106sends (at block 802) the updated execution plan 112 to the resourcemanager 114 to execute the processes (e.g., section leaders and players)on the allocated physical nodes 120. The job executor 106 may receive(at block 804) from the resource manager execution status of theprocesses in the updated execution plan 112.

The described embodiments provide a technique for the allocation ofresources that occurs after the execution plan has been generated andthe processes (e.g., section leader and players) have been allocated toplaceholder nodes or requested section leader nodes. A resourcerequirement 200 is then generated that specifies the processes, such assection leaders and players, and the requested physical nodes on whichthey are preferred to execute. A resource negotiator may then determinean allocation of actual nodes to the processes and returns thatallocation received from the resource manager 114 to the job executor106 to use to update the execution plan with the physical nodes theresource manager provided for the processes. To optimize nodeassignment, the resource negotiator may assign a greater number ofphysical nodes than requested so that processes initially assigned to arequested physical node are allocated to multiple nodes to execute.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The reference characters used herein, such as i and n, are used hereinto denote a variable number of instances of an element, which mayrepresent the same or different values, and may represent the same ordifferent value when used with different or the same elements indifferent described instances.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a computer system 902 which maycomprise an implementation of physical nodes 120 and one or morecomputer systems 902 in which the job execution environment 102 andresource management environment 104 may be implemented. Computer system902 is only one example of a suitable computing node and is not intendedto suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality ofembodiments of the invention described herein. Regardless, computer node902 is capable of being implemented and/or performing any of thefunctionality set forth hereinabove.

The computer node 902 is operational with numerous other general purposeor special purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with computer node 902include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, servercomputer systems, thin clients, thick clients, handheld or laptopdevices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set topboxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputersystems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computingenvironments that include any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

Computer node 902 may be described in the general context of computersystem executable instructions, such as program modules, being executedby a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines,programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Computer node 902 may be practiced in distributed cloud computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloudcomputing environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote computer system storage media including memory storage devices.

As shown in FIG. 9, computer node 902 is shown in the form of ageneral-purpose computing device. The components of computersystem/server 902 may include, but are not limited to, one or moreprocessors or processing units 904, a system memory 906, and a bus 908that couples various system components including system memory 906 toprocessor 904.

Bus 908 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer node 902 typically includes a variety of computer systemreadable media. Such media may be any available media that is accessibleby computer node 902, and it includes both volatile and non-volatilemedia, removable and non-removable media, and may be used for storingthe programs and data used by the programs.

System memory 906 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 910 and/or cachememory 912. Computer node 902 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 913 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 908 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 906 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 914, having a set (at least one) of program modules 916,may be stored in memory 906 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules etc., and program data. Each of the operating system,one or more application programs, other program modules, and programdata or some combination thereof, may include an implementation of anetworking environment. Program modules 916 generally carry out thefunctions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention asdescribed herein.

Computer node 902 may also communicate with one or more external devices918 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 920, etc.; one ormore devices that enable a user to interact with the computer node 902;and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enablecomputer system/server 902 to communicate with one or more othercomputing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output (I/O)interfaces 922. Still yet, computer node 902 can communicate with one ormore networks such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide areanetwork (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via networkadapter 924. As depicted, network adapter 924 communicates with theother components of computer system/server 902 via bus 908. It should beunderstood that although not shown, other hardware and/or softwarecomponents could be used in conjunction with computer system/server 902.Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers,redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems,tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all)embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereofmean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of theitems are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Onthe contrary a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention.

Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the likemay be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods andalgorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device/article (whether or not theycooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly,where more than one device or article is described herein (whether ornot they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a singledevice/article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead ofthe shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or thefeatures of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more otherdevices which are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the present inventionneed not include the device itself.

The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention hasbeen presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the preciseform disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claimsappended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide acomplete description of the manufacture and use of the composition ofthe invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, theinvention resides in the claims herein after appended.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method for obtaining resources for an executionplan, comprising: generating an execution plan indicating a plurality ofprocesses; generating a resource requirement indicating requestedphysical nodes and an assignment of the processes to execute on therequested physical nodes determining from the resource requirement aresource allocation of physical nodes for the requested physical nodesand the processes; and updating the execution plan to generate anupdated execution plan indicating the physical nodes on which theprocesses will execute according to the resource allocation.
 22. Themethod of claim 21, wherein determining the resource allocationcomprises: determining whether there is one physical node havingsufficient resources for the processes allocated to the requestedphysical node; allocating the determined one physical node to theprocesses assigned to the requested physical node in response todetermining that there is one physical node having the sufficientresources; and allocating multiple physical nodes for the processesallocated to the requested physical node when there is not one physicalnode having sufficient resources for the processes assigned to therequested physical node.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein theprocesses include section leaders and players, wherein each of theplayers are assigned to one of a plurality of section leaders, whereinthe resource requirement assigns each of the section leaders and theplayers assigned to the section leader to one of the requested physicalnodes to prefer an allocation of each of the section leaders and theplayers assigned to the section leader to a separate of the physicalnodes.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the resource requirementindicates for each of the players one of a soft constraint and a hardconstraint, wherein the soft constraint for the player indicates apreference to allocate the player to the physical node on which thesection leader for the player, wherein the preference of the softconstraint can be relaxed if one physical node cannot be located havingsufficient resources to execute all the players of the section leader,wherein the hard constraint for the player indicates a requirement toassign the player to the physical node including the section leader forthe player.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the operations furthercomprise: in response to determining that there is no one physical nodehaving sufficient resources for the players assigned to the sectionleader for one of the requested section leader nodes, determiningwhether all players assigned to the section leader having the hardconstraint can be allocated to one physical node having the sectionleader; and in response to determining that all players having the hardconstraint can be allocated to the one physical node having the sectionleader, performing: allocating the section leader and the players havingthe hard constraint to a first physical node having sufficientresources; and allocating at least one of the players having the softconstraint to a second physical node
 26. The method of claim 21, whereinthe operations further comprise: generating a configuration filetemplate providing placeholder names for the requested physical nodes,wherein the generated execution plan assigns the processes to execute onthe placeholder names for the requested physical nodes.
 27. The methodof claim 21, wherein the allocating multiple physical nodes for one ofthe requested physical nodes comprises allocating a minimum number ofphysical nodes having sufficient resources for the processes that areassigned to the requested physical node.
 28. The method of claim 22,further comprising: in response to determining that there is no onephysical node having sufficient resources for the processes assigned tothe requested physical node, determining whether there is a softconstraint or hard constraint indicated for the processes assigned tothe requested physical node, wherein the determining the multiplephysical nodes is performed in response to determining that the softconstraint is indicated for at least one of the processes assigned tothe requested physical node for which no one physical node isdetermined.
 29. The method of claim 28, further comprising: returningfail to the request in response to determining that the hard constraintis indicated for the processes.
 30. The method of claim 25, furthercomprising: returning fail to the request in response to determiningthat there is not one physical node having sufficient resources for thesection leader and all the players assigned to the section leader havingthe hard constraint and the soft constraint.
 31. The method of claim 24,wherein the resource allocation allocates one of the players having thesoft constraint to execute on one of the physical nodes that is not alsoallocated to the section leader of the player having the softconstraint.
 32. The method of claim 21, wherein the execution plan isfor an extract, transform, and load (“ETL”) program, wherein theprocesses include a conductor, section leaders, and players assigned tothe section leaders, wherein the conductor manages the execution of thesection leaders and the players, and wherein the section leaders managethe execution of players assigned to the section leaders.